1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for automatically performing a network optimization process in a mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a new cell is deployed, a mobile communication system generally performs a network optimization process to optimize performance of the new cell before starting a service through the new cell.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network optimization process performed in a conventional mobile communication system.
Referring to FIG. 1, the network optimization process includes an analysis and optimization process 111 and a drive test process 113. The drive test process 113 may be performed in a device, e.g., a User Equipment (UE), and denotes a process in which the UE, when mounted on a vehicle, measures and collects DownLink (DL) Radio Frequency (RF) status information for an evolved Node B (eNB).
The DL RF status information may include various information, such as received signal channel quality information. The received signal channel quality information may include at least one of Received Signal Code Power (RSCP), a Reference Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), a Carrier-to-Interference Noise Ratio (CINR), a Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and a BLock Error Rate (BLER), for example.
If a cell, i.e., an eNB is deployed, the drive test process 113 is performed, so a UE performs a drive test process by measuring and collecting DL RF status information for the eNB while moving along a preset test route. If the eNB is initially deployed, various parameters such as an RF parameter and an antenna parameter may be set by default.
The DL RF status information collected in the drive test process 113 is provided to the analysis and optimization process 111 in step 115, and an analysis engineer estimates an RF environment and performance of the eNB by analyzing the DL RF status information which is provided to the analysis and optimization process 111 in step 117. The analysis engineer directly dumps the DL RF status information collected in the drive test process 113 to the analysis and optimization process 111, and the DL RF status information collected in the drive test process 113 is provided to the analysis and optimization process 111.
If performance of the eNB which is collected under a condition of the default RF parameter and the default antenna parameter does not satisfy target performance targeted by the mobile communication system, the analysis engineer adjusts an RF parameter and an antenna parameter for the eNB based on the analysis result, to improve the performance of the eNB in step 119. Determination of whether the acquired performance of the eNB satisfies the target performance will be omitted herein.
A process including measuring and colleting the DL RF status information, analyzing the DL RF status information, adjusting the RF parameter and the antenna parameter, for example, is a network optimization process. If performance of the eNB which is acquired based on a related RF parameter and antenna parameter does not satisfy the target performance, a drive test engineer changes the related RF parameter and antenna parameter to re-perform the network optimization process based on the changed RF and antenna parameters. In this manner, the network optimization process is repetitively performed until the performance of the eNB satisfies the target performance. A detailed description of the network optimization process will be omitted herein.
The network optimization process performed in the conventional mobile communication system requires many skilled engineers and is time-consuming, which is why the network optimization process is performed by skilled engineers using collected DL RF status information in a trial-and-error manner.
As described above, the network optimization process is performed based on DL RF status information of a related eNB. Thus, performance of the network optimization process may be optimized by considering only the DL RF status information of the related eNB. The network optimization process is also based on DL RF status information measured in a UE, creating a limitation in measuring and collecting DL RF status information for neighbor eNBs.
Since the network optimization process measures and collects DL RF status information for only a test route, the network optimization process is not performed for any other area, which makes performance of the eNB for any other areas questionable.
In the network optimization process, an analysis engineer directly analyzes DL RF status information which is measured and collected in a drive test process, and detects a problem route in a related test route, and a drive test engineer adjusts an RF parameter and an antenna parameter in order to enhance performance for the problem route. That is, all engineers need to directly perform the network optimization process, creating a costly and time-consuming optimization operation for analyzing DL RF status information, detecting a problem route, and adjusting an RF parameter and an antenna parameter according to the problem route. Thus, there is a need in the art for a more efficient optimization operation.